How Does American Education Compare to China and India?

A new study reveals China and India's education strategies and where America is falling behind.

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Investing in Children

The Competition that Really Matters, a new report released by the Center for American Progress, measures the investments made by the United States, China, and India to educate the next generation’s workforce. Based on the findings, the United States has fallen short in recent years in educational achievement, compared to its more populated competitors. China and India have ramped up their national education strategies with goals to increase graduation rates and boost economic competitiveness by 2020.

(Photo: Jim Young/Reuters)

Challenges to U.S. Achievement

The study found these challenges to U.S. student achievement:

Half of U.S. children get no early childhood education, and there is no national strategy to increase enrollment.

More than a quarter of U.S. children have a chronic health condition, such as obesity or asthma, threatening their capacity to learn.

More than half of U.S. post-secondary students drop out without receiving a degree.

(Photo: Juan Silva/Getty Images)

China’s Education Goals

To minimize dropout rates and increase enrollment in higher education, China has launched a national strategy that emphasizes early education. By 2020, China plans to enroll 40 million children in preschool and cover the costs over three years for 70 percent of the students. Already, the country provides funds for one year of kindergarden under the “National Plan for Medium and Long Term Education Reform and Development.”

Make no mistake, China's education system has its own set of flaws. The report states: “China faces massive challenges, including rising inequality and inferior educational quality and access to schools in rural and migrant populations.”

Despite these problems, according to the report, “China’s momentum and its education-focused economic strategy will make the country increasingly competitive in sophisticated industries—precisely those where U.S. workers now lead the competition.”

(Photo: Nir Elias/Reuters)

India’s Competitive Strategies

In 2008, India invested $44 billion in education with a goal to produce 20 million high school graduates over the next decade. Currently, the primary education system enrolls about 38 million children below the age of six.

To compete against China and the United States, India has established national strategies, such as:

Constructing over 400,000 elementary school buildings

Training 1.5 million teachers

Creating a school lunch program for over 100 million children

Like China, India has many problems when it comes to education. “Life for most children in India remains hard, with the World Bank estimating that 40 percent of Indian families live on $1.25 a day or less.”

(Photo: Anna Henly/Getty Images)

Can the U.S. Learn From India and China’s Strategies?

The common threads found in China and India’s education systems are national goals to keep student enrollment up, employ quality teachers, and fund early education. The problems in the United States, according to the Center for American Progress is that our education problems “are not due to a lack of understanding of how to improve and focus our school system. The problems are related to the political will to do it.”

The report suggests that “only with renewed leadership on education as a national priority and real investments at all levels of government will the United States hope to be able to remain economically competitive.”

Do you think the problem is a political will to improve our education system? Share your thoughts in comments.

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